mikelz777

Courtesy of a nice sale at Half Price Books: Stan Getz - Voyage Stan Getz - tenor Kenny Barron - piano George Mraz - bass Victor Lewis - drums Babatunde - congas and brushes

Not yet. I'm guessing that since their shipping notice says that it can take 1-3 weeks that they'll expect you to wait that long before contacting them about the order.

I'd recommend contacting them and asking them why your order was cancelled due to unavailability when their web site still indicates that there are 9 available.

That's odd, they still show that 9 are available on their web site. If they're really out of stock, they better get it updated. On a subsequent order, I ordered 2 items that had an inventory of 1. Their system updated on those 2 items in a matter of hours while the items were still sitting in my cart.

I don't think you guys have anything to worry about. The site still shows that there are (at least) 9 copies available. I just ordered 2 items that had a single copy available. I had them sitting in my cart for a couple of hours. In that span of time, the site showed that it went from "1" to "0" that were available and a while later, the listing for these two items didn't even show up on the artist search. This all happened while the items were still sitting in my cart before I actually even completed the purchase.

I ordered on the 12th and got the shipping notice on the 13th. The status of my order on the Secondspin web site is "shipped".

They're usually brand-new discs that have a hole-punch in the bar code or a small cut on the spine of the jewel case. In the case of a box set like this, it would probably be a set with a black permanent marker line on the bar code or the bar code is blacked out with a marker. Other than the alteration to the bar code or the spine of the case the disc(s) would be brand new. I could be wrong but I think that they are titles that are going out of print and they basically mark them and lower the price in an effort to dump the inventory. I think if it's marked as a cut-out the merchant can't return it to the manufacturer for full credit.

I just received my ship confirmation today so it appears to be the real deal.

Thanks Mike. I ordered mine this A.M. and it still showed 9 left. Hope I wasn't too late. I just checked, out of curiosity, and see that the site still shows 9 copies available. I was kind of surprised because I didn't see the counter go down even after I and several others posting here purchased a copy. Maybe the site is set up so the counter tops out at 9 even if they have 10-20-30 copies and that the counter doesn't go down until their literal inventory falls below 9. I don't know, I'm just speculating.

I can't say that I have mixed feelings about Art Pepper (I think he was one of the greatest alto players of all time.) but I used to feel the same way that you do about his music. I very much preferred his earlier work and didn't like it when his work started to reflect a Coltrane-like influence. In fact, I used to own the Complete Village Vanguard Sessions box years ago when I found it for around $95.00. My ear wasn't ready for his sound at that time and I ended up selling the set after owning it less than a month just to get my money back. Flash forward several years and my ear had changed enough to where I came to really appreciate and enjoy his playing from the later part of his career. Now I've come full circle and I'm re-buying the box set (at an astoundingly better price) to complete the Pepper box trio of the Galaxy Recordings, the Hollywood All-star Sessions and the Village Vanguard Sessions. (Wow! 30 discs between the 3 sets which will put me at a total of 51 Pepper discs.) I don't see the evolution or change in his sound as a bad or lesser thing compared to his earlier work, it's just different. I don’t think he ever went off the deep end musically or that he needed to get back on track. He was just moving on a different track. Both periods of his career are enjoyable but it doesn't have to be at the expense of the other. I don’t agree with nor do I think it’s fair to say that he didn’t reach his potential. I might agree if he had a very uneven career musically where his talent would shine here and there on occasion but his body of work was routinely very good to excellent. I don’t think that we could necessarily conclude that his music would have been exponentially better had he not been on drugs or had an easier life. Those things just as likely could have been some of the very things that fueled his excellence. Granted, some of his stage patter in the VV set tends to make him look like a bit of an ass and some of it can be a bit hard to listen to but it’s honest and real and it lends itself to a warts-and-all portrait of the man. I can see how it would turn many people off but I appreciate the fuller picture and for me, it doesn’t detract from the music at all. Oddly enough, it almost kind of enhances it knowing he could be such a strong player despite his bad habits. (Maybe it's just me.) It looks like I came away with a different impression than yours regarding Pepper’s biography, “Straight Life”. It’s been a long time since I read it but “self-justifying” and “self-deluding” weren’t adjectives that came to my mind. He was a junkie and his biography was brutally honest and certainly didn’t pull any punches even when it reflected very badly on Art himself which was quite often. That might even give more credence to Art's self-perception. You don’t seem to agree with Art’s assertion that he was a genius on the alto sax. It’s certainly a bold statement but was it just unsupported braggadocio or was it a statement of confidence? Who, during Art’s career, was a better alto player? What alto player, during Art’s career, had equally consistent excellence shown in their body of work? And now in hindsight, how does Art’s body of work compare with those who are now considered to be the all-time great alto players in the history of jazz? I would consider his body of work to stand up equally, if not better than the generally recognized all-time alto greats. His assertion that he was a genius or a giant might easily lead one to conclude that he had a monumental ego but I think it would be much closer to being a statement of recognition than one of being self-justifying or self-delusional. All of this, of course, is just my opinion. I really like Art Pepper as well. Can you tell? Peace.

They would be used. I've made several purchases with Secondspin.com over the years and I've never been disappointed with any of their used discs.

If you haven't already taken advantage of the great deals that have been available on this set in the past, Secondspin.com is practically giving them away right now. Good until 3/19 if you use the code SSBIGMARCH you get 20% off plus free shipping. With taxes added, I got this 9-CD set for $12.53 delivered!! ($1.39 per disc.) I had the individual discs and wasn't particularly looking to get it but at this price, I couldn't pass it up.

Beefheart. I'm not very familiar with the Gospel, but a phrase like that has to be more than ancient. I had read that phrase on the back of a Beefheart album--is it "Doc at the Radar Station"?. Years later, while a Gospel was read at church, I jolted up out of my relaxed attitude, as I heard it there. In the translation read at my church, the wording was much closer to "if you have ears, you must listen." It was probably the New Living Translation, more of a dynamic equivalent rather than a literal translation. Then he said, “Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.” Mark 4:9 (NLT)

Beefheart. I'm not very familiar with the Gospel, but a phrase like that has to be more than ancient. And He said to them, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear!” Mark 4:9 (NKJV) Jesus was referring to the parable of the sower, a very important teaching showing the difference between true and false converts.

Ellington would be Duke, right?

I don't know Braxton at all so he wasn't a factor in my vote. Brubeck, for me, was more someone who didn't inspire sustained enjoyment. I have his 5-CD "For All Time" box but never even remotely felt a need to get anything beyond that. My interest in him was more for Paul Desmond than anything else. I have to be in a special mood for Brubeck and it hasn't come around in quite a while. A little bit of Mulligan goes a long way but that may mostly be due to the baritone sax which holds limited appeal for me. I dig Pops but I haven't listened to him in a while. My first vote was for Bud Powell. It's not so much his playing (which takes some warming up to) but it's his vocalizations. I HATE it when I can hear the performer vocalizing. I want to hear their music, not their grunting, groaning and moaning. My second vote was for the big daddy icon, Ellington. I recognize his talent and great contributions but he doesn't seem to have the kind of work that I seek out and enjoy listening to. I have 4 discs worth of his Blanton-Webster years and have maybe listened to them twice (in 10+ years) with no real desire to revisit them anytime soon. People here rave about him and some easily have dozens of his recordings but it's lost on me.

[Disclaimer: No, I'm not some label hack trying to dish up and sell the latest warmed-over turd.] I'm not much of a vocalist kind of guy but the right sound can turn my head. I had never heard of Melody Gardot before running across this video but I think she sounds like someone who is compelling enough to at least check out. I just ordered her first CD ("Worrisome Heart") and I'm looking forward to giving it a listen. She's got an interesting backstory. Check out her story and music on the video: http://wimp.com/musicalgirl/

Universal has (had?) a deal with Mosaic that the sets containing music from Universal (Farlow, Eldridge, Nelson, Basie Clef/Verve, Peterson, Quincy Jones, etc) would be distributed by Universal directly in Europe, with a different number on the back of the box and no handwritten number in the book, but otherwise identical and also part of the limited total number of sets. Most of those turned up on Amazon Marketplace or elsewhere for attractive prizes. And very attractive prices they were! For a good while, the Tal Farlow "Concert Band" could be had for $50-$55 brand new. After snapping that one up, I was on constant alert for the Universal sets to show up somewhere. Besides Amazon Marketplace, Half.com was another place I picked up a few. I got the Buddy Rich set new (which I liked much better than I thought I would) for somewhere in the $65 range. I also got a new Basie Clef/Verve set for somewhere between $60-$70.

Count me among those who would recommend this set. If I had to rank all of my big box sets from Mosaic, this one would definitely be in the top half of the stack. I got one of the Universal sets at a price I couldn't pass up and I'm glad I did.

Not jazz but there are some jazz influences in there. I'm on an Elvis Costello kick and rounding out my worth-while Columbia releases: Armed Forces Get Happy!! Trust Almost Blue King Of America Blood And Chocolate

don't know what lucky in paris is (the one on high note?)... but you really should get the thompson "americans swinging in paris" disc - imho it's the best of the 1956 paris recordings and the only one you're missing... i keep hoping for the milt jackson material, or some of the other american recordings, since i have most of the french ones... You called it, the "Lucky In Paris" is the one on High Note. I'll have to check out the "Americans Swinging In Paris" disc if it doesn't overlap what I already have.

I'd be curious to see what's going to be on the set. Nearly everything I have of Lucky Thompson is from the 50's. Lucky Thompson/Gigi Gryce In Paris The Complete Vogue Recordings, Vol. 1 Tricotism Lucky Thompson With Dave Pochonet All Stars Modern Jazz Group Lucky In Paris If the Select covers the 50's and there is too much overlap, it's probably not going to be too attractive for me.

J.R. Monterose - Jaywalkin'

A saxophone plays Nurtured by rhythm and keys Unlocking the night

I really wanted T-Bone's The Complete Capitol / Black & White Recordings but couldn't afford the price tag attached for an OOP 3-CD set. I ended up having to get the 4-CD Quadromania set which appears to contain the whole of the Capitol / B&W set without the alternate takes. I'd agree that it's some excellent stuff and I like it enough to want to add the Imperial 2-CD set to the collection as well.